Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1887-07-09
To the Pupils in our Free Schools.

MANY vi INC DOyS anu girls III war
rem county have not been in school
for the last six months. The tax
payers of Tennessee are paying large
sums of money for your benefit.
You ought now to start to school
with determination that you will
make the very best use of the oppor-
tunities offered to you to improve
your mind, and your talants. Many
children in the world do not have
the opportunity to attend a free
school, and their parents are too poor
to pay for their education.
Let me now suggest to you some
thing that you can do which will
greatly improve your writing, your
spelling, your use of language, and
your faculty to think on any subject.
The planet Venus is now seen in
the West every clear night, and it
goes down out of sight at about 10
o'clock. You cannot be mistaken
about it, as it is the brightest body
that you can see in the West as soon
as darkness comes. By observing it
from night to night, you will see
that it sets earlier and earlier every
night, and it will continue to do so
until the 2lst of September, at which
time it will 60 down with the sun.
You should take stick about two
feet long, hold it up right in your
right hand, so that one end will be
in a line with the horizon, (the
place where the sky and the earth
appear to come together and the
other end in line with venus. You
must hold the stick in your right
hand, with your arm stretched at
full length. The length of the stick
will depend upon the length of your
arm. Do this on the night following
the first day of your school, and
write down what you have done in
a book. You should save a few nick
els which you have earned by pick
ing berries, and buy q scratch book,
or few sheets of paper and make a
book for yourself. Do this every
Monday night for about eight times,
and you will then see that your stick
will have to be only about four inches
long in order that you may use it for
the same purpose that you used it on
the first day of your school. The mo-
ton of Venus is like the growth of a
cornstalk; by the eye alone, you can
not see that it has grown any in one
day.; but if you drive stick into the
ground close to hill of corn, letting
5 the top of the stick be just as high as
? the corn, then wait one week, you
f will see how much the corn has
} grown. 1t is so with Venus. You
| will not be able to see that it is any
3 lower down, at dark on the second
= day of your school than it was on the
S first day but if you will note care
7 fully in your book how high it was
D on the first day of your school, and
r then wait two weeks you will see
that it is much lower now, at dark,
: than it was on the first day. You
f will find that you will have to short
: en- your stick every week in order
S that you may use it for the same pur-
e pose. Note all your observations in
n your book, mention how many inch
: es long your stick was and the time
e when you used it.
II AS I have said, if your school opens
e next Monday, July II, you must
: know how high Venus is, then wait
$ ten weeks, making a note every
d Monday night, then on the night of
: the Dist of September you cannot
q see Venus, as it will 60 down with
|, the sun.
u In few days after Venus goes
. down with the sun you will see ii
Il rise in the morning just before the
u sun rises, and you will see that it will
3 be seen in the morning until about
l. the Sth of July 1888.
% I do not suppose that you can un.
- derstand the cause why Venus ii
. sometimes seen in the evening and
N sometimes in the morning, but by
u observing what have said, you will
,o be helped to understand many things
. when you become men and women
~ In making your notes be careful tc
spell correctly. If you have any
doubt about word, look in the die
It tionary.
Cut this article out Of the paper
put it in your book and if you liv'
\. until July of next year see if what
)r have said proves to be true Next